Azeroth's Skies
by TerrabreakerX
Summary: Twilight and Co. are swept across time and space after stopping a magical storm. What begins as mere survival in the strange world they find themselves in becomes a struggle to hold on to the values that brought them together. A world called Azeroth. Extended summary inside.
1. Bereft

Extended Summary:

The Mane Six disappear from Equestria without a trace in the process of successfully saving Ponyville from a magical storm. They are assumed deceased after some time passes and the Elements return to the Tree of Harmony.

They wake up, not as the ponies they know themselves to be, on another world.

A world called Azeroth.

Faced with a new set of challenges, can they hold onto the values they embody and the code they lived by, or will they be forced to adapt to the ways of this strange new world; a world of bloodshed and hate, of light and dark, of alien races, of undead and demons. A World of Warcraft.

Chapter 1; Bereft. Author's note at the end. This is also up on FIMfiction under the name of Shadowguard Ascendant.

* * *

"_It's getting too close! All of Ponyville is at risk!"_

"_This is __**not**__ a natural storm you guys! My weather teams can't handle it at all!"_

"_What about all of the animals?"_

"_My magic isn't enough to deal with this alone, and I can't get through to Canterlot… What if this is happening all over Equestria?"_

"_Twilight, what're we going to do?"_

"…"

"_Gather the elements. We'll face this head on."_

…

…

…

"_P-Princess T-T-Twilight?"_

"_Hmm? Oh, yes, Pipsqueak?"_

"_I-Is everything going to be all right?"_

"…_Everything's going to be fine. I promise! Go back inside the school to your mother."_

…

…

"_It's not enough! This darn storm just ain't goin' away!"_

"_It's like when you get a whirlpool at the bottom of a bathtub where the water drains away but you keep adding water so it never stops and you never want it to stop because you're having too much fun watching the swirly water and—"_

"_All together, girls! One last try! For Ponyville!"_

"_**For Ponyville!"**_

* * *

_Drip. Drip._

She blinked to clear her eyes and frowned down at the parchment now stained by the salty moisture. Concentrating, she focused her magic and carefully drew the water out of the material, returning it to how it had been before.

The tears had sprung unbidden once more. It had made writing the other letters even more difficult than they already had been, but this was the last.

"That is Twilight's, is it not?" She turned to regard the owner of the voice, who had entered behind her without announcement. Her sister's voice and patterns of speech were unmistakeable.

"It is. I left her til last " She answered at last, realising that her sister had trotted up next to her and was waiting patiently for an answer while her own thoughts had drifted. Seeing the other pony nod sympathetically, she sighed. "I apologise, dear sister. I have been finding it… hard. To concentrate." She finished lamely, having not intended to break up the sentence.

Princess Luna nodded again in return, and reached over to comfort her. "We _all _have, sister."

It had been a week since… the incident, and Celestia had only truly come to accept it as fact at all in the hours before beginning the letters. Even now she still half-expected to hear the unmistakeable pop of a letter delivered by dragonflame, as Equestria's youngest Princess sought her advice on what was normally a matter of trivia. But no letters had come for seven days, and, regardless, the usual messenger was only downstairs.

Spike was sleeping now, as far as she was aware. She hoped so. She'd never seen anypony, let alone a dragon, shed tears for so long.

It was so very sad indeed.

"Even though we are sending these letters, it does not mean that we have given up hope." Luna reminded her, and she nodded slowly. They had found no evidence of anything hinting at their worst fears, after all, and to a certain extent that was a good thing. And yet, neither could shake the feeling that if they were to find something they would have found it by now. The trail already felt cold.

But they couldn't let despair win. And the kingdom still had to be run as it ever did.

"You are right. Perhaps some miracle…" She trailed off, and returned to writing in silence for a time. With a final flick of the quill, she finished the letter, taking extra care not to spill the ink as she returned it to the drawer. Her telekinesis could at best be described as 'shaky' at the moment, to say the least.

"Now only one task remains." And it was the one she had been dreading the most. "Will you help me, sister?"

Luna knew what she had to do, and why she needed help. "Of course."

Together, they sat and read back the last letter, and neither could hold the waterworks back this time.

_It is my sad and solemn duty to inform you of the disappearance of your daughter, Princess Twilight Sparkle; missing, and currently presumed deceased._

* * *

A week later, and the whole kingdom was in mourning.

The news had been slow to spread at first; no-pony had actually seen the Elements' sacrifice. But gossip, once it begins to take root, is impossible to quash completely.

After two days, ponies had started to become suspicious. The Ponyville library remained closed, its curtains drawn. Rarity's shop was much the same. The Cakes refused to talk about Pinkie Pie, and simply carried on with strained smiles and the slightest dark shadows around their eyes. Big Mac didn't make his daily rounds, but was seen shouldering the chores his sister normally performed. Something was definitely up.

Three days was all it took for somepony to snap, and that somepony ended up was Apple Bloom. For most of the week, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had sat silently in class to the clear concern of Cheerilee, but the floodgates opened when Diamond Tiara took a fairly standard argument one step too far with a disparaging remark about the Apple Family.

Before anypony else could react, before anypony could stop her, and in front of the entire class, Apple Bloom bellowed back. "You wouldn't say that if ya knew that my sister might be dead!" Stunned silence followed as Apple Bloom clapped her hooves over her mouth, but it was too late. The damage had been done.

The news spread from the classroom across Ponyville like wildfire, eventually forcing the princesses to come clean.

Yes, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony had disappeared.

No, they had not been ripped apart by a pack of wild manticores. And, Princess Luna said with the barest hint of grief-fuelled steel in her voice, the rulers of Equestria did not appreciate such horrible scaremongering.

Yes, the bearers had disappeared while using their powers to disperse a magical cyclone approaching Ponyville, and that was all that was known.

The princesses asked for calm and, after a short period of panic, they finally received it. They begged their subjects not to give into despair and that there was always hope to be found even in the darkest of circumstances.

The weeks turned into months and nothing changed.

* * *

The funeral finally took place six months later.

It was a state affair, but was held outside Ponyville, not far from Kindness's cottage. Anywhere else would have felt almost inappropriate.

It was nationally attended, but not so internationally; Equestria's newest Princess hadn't made too much of a splash on the world stage. Even so, representatives arrived from the gryphon, minotaur, dragon communities and – of course – the Crystal Empire, all to pay their respects to those who had saved the day on a number of occasions.

The guests of honour filed into a clearing that had been carefully prepared for the day; not that it had needed to be opened up. The cyclone, in its dying throes, had done that for them.

Indeed, as far as they could tell, the site of the funeral was the last known location of the bearers themselves, before they had so mysteriously disappeared.

Beyond the clearing, ponyfolk gathered for miles around, quietly trotting into place as the hours ticked down to the appointed time.

It was a good day for such an open-air, outdoors event. Clear skies had been scheduled and duly arranged by the local weather teams, and it fell at the time of year when Princess Celestia would only allow the sun to climb to a certain height, to maintain the balance of nature that was their charge.

Outside the visiting dignitaries, the gathering was limited to the Six's close friends and family – those who had truly lost the most. Twilight's parents, Applejack's immediate family, as much of the Pie clan that could be contacted, the cakes… All had somepony to represent them, except Fluttershy. Her kin were either out of contact or unknown. Instead, she was remembered by a gathering of the animals she had loved and given so much to… and Discord, whose genuine sobs were causing random bursts of chaos around the area that he was constantly having to fix.

When the time came, all were silent and all were still for what Princess Celestia had to say.

"Friends, one and all." She began. "We are gathered here to mourn the loss that this nation, this world, has sustained, and that we who knew them best have borne most of all. As you all know, half a year ago, a number of magical storms of collected, out-of-control nature magic formed across Equestria. Most dissipated harmlessly. A few had to be contained by experts, or by weather teams, where they could.

"One, not far from Canterlot, required the personal intervention of Princess Luna and myself. Another in the area of Manehattan was vanquished by the personification of Chaos, Discord." Where Discord might have once gloated, now he merely looked despondent. "And another… threatened Ponyville directly." She paused, and swallowed; this was the hardest part.

"Had it been left unchecked, the storm would have ripped its way across the town and most likely left nothing in its wake. Princess Twilight Sparkle realised this danger, and she and her friends went to confront it directly. Together, using the power of their elements, they succeeded in breaking the storm's power… at the apparent cost of their own lives.

"I say 'apparent' because we have still found no evidence that those on the scene perished in the storm. We have always held out hope that they might be found, or might return." And now for the worst news she had to offer. "But a new development has come to light that cannot be ignored. The Elements have returned to the Tree of Harmony, and have turned, which, we can imagine, would mean…" She trailed off at the sound of a quiet sob. Looking down to her right, the Princess spotted Spike, having done so well up to this point, break back into tears again. The dragon would be living either in Canterlot Castle or the Crystal Kingdom from now on. Or he might stay, with some supervision, in Ponyville Library. It was all up to him.

Steeling herself, determined to avoid doing the same as he was now, she continued her well-rehearsed speech. "The elements will return to activity once suitable replacements can be found; until then, Princess Luna, Princess Cadance and I will do our best to wield them through any crises which require them. But their return is the reason that we decided to finally hold this funeral… an attempt to find the slightest measure of closure, if any of us can."

The introduction out of the way, the Princess of the Sun beckoned to her sister, who stood at the podium and cleared a clogged throat.

"We now begin the ceremony with a memorial display by the Wonderbolts, followed by tributes to the seven ponies that died in this tragedy."

The crowd looked to the sky as the three ponies in blue and yellow darted and danced in the morning, sorrowfully weaving their well-planned routine.

The tribute to Rainbow Dash followed immediately after, read out by a shaking Scootaloo to her "best big sister ever" with Cheerilee standing close by.

Fluttershy's came next, given by Discord. In contrast to the young pegasus before him, the draconequus performed his by heart (or on the fly, it was hard to tell), took nearly five times as long and stopped midway through for a mournful song-and-dance number.

"S-she was the b-best, k-kindest f-friend you could ask for!" He finished at last, blowing his nose and showering one of the ambassadors from Griffonia in actual snow.

The other tributes went on afterwards, though none were quite as long or… flashy. At last, it was time for Twilight's. Cadance had offered to do it for her, but Celestia had demurred, and then eventually begged. United as they were in grief, the Princess of Love had backed down at last.

She moved to the front of the stage again, trotting up to the podium with as much decorum as she could muster – which had become increasingly difficult to maintain as each family or group had burst into tears in front of her.

She cleared her throat and allowed the magic to slip through her veins into her horn as it glowed her signature white. In response, the sun crept a few more inches into the sky over the treeline; not enough to blind the audience, but enough to bathe the platform in glorious light.

"Many of you knew Princess Twilight Sparkle personally, or had some sort of close connection to her." She started at last. "Apart from her immediate family, and her dragon-ward, Spike, I hope it would not be immodest to claim that I knew her best; her insecurities, her fears, her flaws… and her hopes and dreams, her conscientiousness, her charm and above all her _light_ as well. I was most hopeful for her future.

"To have such promise shattered, then, is a terrible, heart-wrenching blow." Celestia went on as she noticed Twilight Velvet and Night Light, Twilight's parents, hugging tightly in the crowd, their faces hidden from view. "But we must not in our grief forget that she died doing what she and her friends have done multiple times over the past few years – they saved a little corner of the world from harm. _Their _sacrifice saved this corner of the world from harm.

"All we can do is do our best to acknowledge and emulate their example through our grief; as hard as I know it may seem. Their kindness. Their generosity. Their loyalty. Their honesty. Their good humour. And the magic of friendship which they embodied best. We can be thankful for the second chance they have granted us. And most of all, we will not forget them."

As one, the crowd solemnly intoned the names of the fallen, and then repeated Celestia's final remark.

"_We will not forget them."_

And that was that. The nearby, waiting Ponyville Orchestral Group struck up a funeral march and the gathering slowly dispersed.

It hadn't been a standard funeral, but Celestia imagined that the families and friends would make their own arrangements. This had been about one last display of gratitude to heroines cut far too soon from the cloth.

Now, at last, as she stood at the edge of the platform and closed her eyes, did the bringer of the morning sun allow the tears to fall down her face, to feel the emotion that she had been holding back for six months at the loss of her little ponies.

The grief might never go away, but at least she could try to deal with it. And accepting that Twilight was gone would be a start.

_Gone, perhaps. But not forgotten. Never forgotten._

* * *

_Far elsewhere…_

The first thing that Twilight knew as she woke up was pain. Pain in her head, to be specific. It felt like somepony had taken a blunt object to her skull and it had somehow bounced off, but not without causing some kind of damage.

She raised a hand to her forehead, keeping her hair out of the way and her eyes firmly shut. _Don't want to over-stimulate the nerves when they're already in pain._

Her memories came back slowly at first, and then rushed through in bits and pieces. The cyclone… Her friends all running out to stop it with the elements of harmony… A terrible, soul-wrenching ache as they had been swept up in it… and then everything had faded to black.

_But where am I now?_

The ground below her felt earthy and she could smell it clearly; she was lying on her back in the dirt. The fresh air, the chirping birds; they all said to her that she was in a forest of some kind. _Maybe we were only flung into the Everfree forest?_

It was at this point that Twilight began to realise that something was wrong. Still wary of opening her eyes, she raised her hand back to her head and rubbed her temple, trying to dull the pain for a second and break into blissful clarity.

_Wait. Hold up._

_Hair?_

_Hands?!_

She opened her eyes, took one look at herself and screamed out loud.

* * *

And there's chapter 1 done. As I said before, this is a crossover with WoW. I'm probably going to be more active in responding to comments/etc. on FIMfiction so feel free to check it out on there too.

Some minor things:

- On the MLP side of things, this is set before Season 4 kicks off, albeit with minor references to elements from the season opener.

- On the Warcraft side, this is set shortly after the formation of the Shattered Sun Offensive, but I will be taking liberties with certain events that were placed somewhat loosely into the timeline.

Also, this was inspired by Borsuq's marvellous _Rebirth of the Damned. _I strongly recommend checking it out!


	2. Displacement Sickness

Chapter 2; Displacement Sickness. Enjoy!

* * *

_No. Nononononononono. How can this be happening again? I wasn't even anywhere near the mirror!_

Twilight's eyes were glued to her hands as she flexed the five appendages (_What had they called them? Fingers?_) attached to each one. Her gaze moved down her body, and she realised that things were different this time.

For one, the clothes she'd found herself wearing initially last time had been bookish, but flashy; still very_ her_, though, and suited to going to high school in. This time, she was garbed in some kind of light, white cloth shirt, with a simple set of beige pants and brown boots to match. It was the kind of outfit she could imagine Rarity having a breakdown over.

Looking further, she could see that the differences were not restricted to her clothing. Last time, she had emerged through the portal as a teenager, and, as she was a young adult back in Equestria, had found this rather odd. This time, she felt a little older than before; it was hard to place, but there were definitely areas of her human body that had changed.

She pushed herself up off the ground, unsteady and off-balance. It took a few seconds of careful breathing and mental effort to resist the urge to fall back down on the four legs again, but she managed to stand on her two feet just fine.

She grimaced as remembered the first time she had stood on two legs, and how long it had taken to properly get used to it then.

_Okay, so I'm human again. Breathe, Twilight. It's going to be fine. I just have to get to the school again and wait until the portal—_

It was only now that the Equestrian princess took a good look at her surroundings and realised that something else was different this time.

She wasn't alone.

There were a few trees in the vicinity, deciduous firs that were just beginning to lose their leaves for the autumn. And slumped against one of them was a figure with a huge head of bubblegum pink hair…

_Pinkie!_

She staggered over to her friend and knelt down beside her. Pinkie wore the same kind of clothes that Twilight had on, and her head was buried in her knees. She was out cold, or at least asleep.

Twilight took her by the shoulder and shook her gently.

"Hurr… Gahh… Cinnamonchocolatefrostycupcakes!" Pinkie bolted upright. _Okay, only asleep._ "Woah, everything's blurry! Hey, Twilight! What's going on?"

_Well, she's okay. That's a relief. But I'd better explain this carefully to her; it's going to be a huge shock that she's become human._

The resemblance to the mirror-verse Pinkie was there, but this one –_ her_ one – was older, with a few other minor differences too. The poofy pink hair was unchanged, however.

"Listen, Pinkie, please stay calm, but something's happened to us." Twilight began. "I know it's going to be hard to accept, but—"

"Ooh, look at that cloud!" Pinkie cried, leaping up and sending the other girl sprawling onto her backside. "It's shaped like a donut!"

_Wuh? _"Pinkie, focus! Wait… how are you standing up so easily? Don't you—"

"Woah, Twilight!" The princess found herself interrupted again as Pinkie leapt back right into her face just as she had been about to stand up. "You're human! I mean I'm guessing that you are because of how you described them after you came back from the other world, and I can't be sure because I haven't seen one myself before, but— OMIGOSH!" She looked down at her own hands, then down at her legs and feet.

"I'm human too? How awesome is this!"

"I wouldn't say 'awesome'…" Twilight muttered back. "How are you finding it so easy to walk around like that?" _She can't have done it before._

Pinkie shrugged and gave a wide grin, showing lots of clean white teeth. "I dunno."

_It's mindboggling, just how can— No._ Figuring out the enigma wrapped in cotton candy that was Pinkie Pie would have to wait for another day.

"As for what happened, I'd have to posit that it has something to do with the cyclone we were dealing with."

"That'd make sense." Pinkie agreed. "It was all like _woosh, woosh_—" She made accompanying gestures with her hands. "And we were all like_ ZZZZZZZAP_! And then everything just went dark after that."

"That's all I can remember too." _Which didn't give them much of a place to start looking for a way back home_. Twilight swept her gaze around the small area of forest again. It was mostly flat ground and the going was steady, but the trees prevented her from seeing much of the land beyond. "I don't recognise this area from when I went through the mirror."

"Oh yeah, that was a school! So if we're here…" Pinkie jumped around topics in her sentences so fast sometimes it was hard to keep up; even for Twilight. "Do you think the others are nearby?"

"I was thinking the same." Twilight nodded. "I just hope they're having the same lack of trouble you had with being human—"

She was interrupted by a loud, echoing and above all familiar screech.

"Orrrrrrr maybe not."

* * *

They found Rarity in the next clearing over. She clearly hadn't tried standing up yet, and indeed seemed a little too preoccupied with something else. Like with Pinkie, Twilight easily saw recognised her friend's features translated over to the mirror-world Rarity, but again there were the same differences; her skin was still fairly pale, but not as light as it had been with the previous human-Rarity. Again, she seemed a little older.

The classic pout that Rarity scrunched her face into whenever she was sad or stressed was unmistakeable, of course.

"Rarity! We heard you scream!"

"Oh, Twilight, Pinkie, thank goodness you're here!" She wailed as they entered the clearing. "It's terrible!"

_I hope everyone else doesn't react like this… Maybe Pinkie was the exception and not the rule._

"Yes, we're human." Twilight bent down and laid a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder. "I know it seems bad, Rarity, but it could be worse. We could be naked…"

"No, not that, my dear! Becoming "human" as you say is unfortunate, yes, but the cause of my despair is something far more drastic!"

"Ooh, ooh, the fact that we got sucked into another world and we don't know how to get home?"

"Pinkie…"

"Ooh, or is it that we can't even be sure that we're in the same world Twilight went to before and it could be someplace much worse?"

"Pinkie…!"

"Oh, oh, I know! It must be that everyone we know probably thinks we're dead because we got caught up in a deadly dangerous cyclone of—"

"PINKIE!"

"What? Just laying it all out there for her."

Twilight shook her head and sighed. She loved Pinkie, but the bearer of laughter could be extraordinarily insensitive sometimes.

"Those are all very bad, darling." Rarity cut back in. She seemed little phased by Pinkie's random tirade. "But I'm thinking of a much more immediate disaster!" She pointed down at the clothes she had no doubted appeared in, not at all dissimilar from Twilight's or Pinkie's. "Just look at these!"

_And I did call it…_

"This is an absolute fashion nightmare! Hopefully no-pony will see me in these rags…"

"I doubt you'll have to worry about that." Twilight said, as kindly as she could. She was eager to get back on to more important matters. "Have you tried walking yet?" She asked.

The fashionista raised an eyebrow.

"I assume you mean walking in the manner that you are currently doing so." She replied. "in which case, no."

"In which case you should probably try it. The others are probably scattered across this forest, and we need to hurry and find them."

"It's not very difficult!" Pinkie piped up happily.

"Unless you'd rather stay in the dirt, anyway…"

That did the trick.

"Good heavens, yes!" Rarity shot up, as if realising for the first time that she was sitting down in the great outdoors. She almost immediately went down again, but the princess had expected this, and caught her by the shoulders; her legs wobbled but she stayed upright. "Thank you, my dear." She said to Twilight, then shot a glare at Pinkie, who was off in her own little world sniffing some nearby flowers. "And it isn't as easy as it looks."

"Give it some practice and you'll be walking around just fine soon enough." Twilight said, slowly letting go of the bearer of generosity as her footing and balance became steadier.

"In seriousness, though…" Rarity muttered, forcing her friend to lean in to hear her properly. "Are we truly lost with no idea where we are?"

"At the moment, I'm afraid so." Twilight replied carefully. "But there's always hope. We could still be in the mirror-world, or the Princesses might have some way of retrieving us, or at least finding us. We'll just have to keep going until we know more."

It wasn't the most enthusing of team talks she had ever given, but Rarity nodded in return all the same. "Very well then, Twilight. I trust your judgment and your assessment of the situation. Come along now, Pinkie!" She called out in the direction that they had last seen the bubblegum-haired girl, who had popped out of sight. "We're going to go find the others."

"Okey-dokey-lokey!" The cheerful response floated over the wind as Pinkie bounced back into sight.

Twilight felt a little better having spoken to Rarity. Remaining calm was indeed the best approach, and they didn't appear to be in immediate danger, which was always something good to count on. Hopefully it wouldn't be too difficult to get the rest of the band back together.

* * *

As it was, they found Applejack and Fluttershy together, which simplified things considerably.

Both shared the style of clothes they wore with the others, and Twilight decided to assume that Rainbow, when they found her, would have the same. Both also appeared a little older, again, than their mirror counterparts – which was somewhat more noticeable with Fluttershy, though she was of course the oldest of the group. Applejack was a little more tanned, and Fluttershy a little paler.

Both were awake and conscious, and the two groups actually ran into each other instead of the one being static.

"Applejack! Fluttershy!" Twilight had rounded a tree and spotted the two about to head onto a track. Her shouted elicited a squeak from the meeker of the two, and got both of their attentions.

"Twilight, why, is that you?" Applejack called back, and the princess nodded. The two made their way back towards the others. "I reckon this is just about the strangest thing I ever seen. What on earth happened to us, hon?"

"We think the cyclone sent us to another world. We've all become human, just like what happened to me with that mirror in the Crystal Empire."

"Oh, my…"

"How's that now?"

"Well, I have a few theories as to how we arrived here, and—"

"I would suggest saving the science for when we find Rainbow Dash." Rarity interrupted. "She may want to know, and if you say it now you might only have to repeat yourself later."

Twilight was forced to admit to herself that it would probably save them some time.

"Somethin' else, Twi… Why are y'all walkin' 'round so funny like?"

Of course, without the benefit of Twilight's experience of humanity, both AJ and Fluttershy had been hobbling around on all fours. Or trying to, at least.

"…We're not. This is how humans walk."

AJ studied her three upright friends with a deep frown on her face. "Hmm. I was wonderin' why I was findin' it so hard to move 'round. That explains that."

"It's quite disconcerting at first, I assure you." Rarity offered.

The apple-farmer hobbled over to the closest tree and, with some care, leveraged herself up to imitate the others. Like Rarity, she was wobbly at first, but after a few minutes it was fair to say that she was already the lighter of the two on her feet.

Fluttershy was a different story. The time it took Applejack to become accustomed to her new legs was the time it took the others to convince the timid girl to prop herself up fully on her knees. Eventually, with kind words and encouragement, the others managed to coax her up all the way, but when they finally decided to move on and search for Rainbow Dash she still needed to keep an arm around Pinkie Pie for balance.

Twilight watched them walk ahead with some satisfaction, but also concern._ I suppose I should be thankful we haven't had any more trouble yet. We know so little about this world… What if it's not as peaceful as Equestria, or even the mirror-world? Or what if this place is a sort of Everfree Forest? I just hope Rainbow's okay…_

* * *

Finding Rainbow confirmed that the entire group had received the same clothes when they had changed worlds and were older than Twilight remembered their mirror-world counterparts being, but that train of thought was not the first to run through her brain upon seeing Ponyville's finest flyer with her head buried deep into her newfound knees.

Unlike Rarity, indeed, Dash looked truly despondent, though her mood seemed to spike upwards when her friends found her, as she joined in enthusiastically with the massive group hug initiated by Pinkie Pie.

_It didn't take too long to find everyone again. Things are looking up!_

They quickly found out what was wrong with Rainbow, too.

"Twilight, you were human for a while, right?" She asked hurriedly as Twilight explained what they knew for certain, as she had done for each of the others. "Okay; how do they fly?"

"Huh?"

"Fly? Come on, you know, what I do _all the time_?" She cried, flapping her hands like wings for emphasis. "You must know how; you had your wings going through the mirror, didn't you?"

"Um, no, sorry Rainbow." The princess spluttered hastily. "I don't know how to break this to you but humans… can't fly."

The bearer of the element of loyalty took another good look at her human body, especially on her back where one might expect to find wings, and, upon finding nothing, promptly burst into tears.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Five minutes later and Dash was in the same position around AJ's shoulder as Fluttershy was holding onto Pinkie, albeit more from a despairing lack of will to get good at the situation forced by her biological grounding than actual competence.

"Do you think she'll ever cheer up?" Rarity whispered worriedly to Twilight as the two walked slightly ahead of the others. "I mean, this could really hit her hard… She is what she is because of flying…"

"I don't know, but I really hope so. I remember how I felt when I thought I might lose all ability to do magic…" _And how I might feel again, if we are trapped here…_

"Well, at least I can't be robbed of my skills as an artiste, even if I have to wear such tacky clothing!"

"No." The princess smiled. "You can't lose that."

_Our magic, our flying… Our talents. They aren't all that define us, anyway. Even if we lose them, we haven't lost ourselves._

They pressed on through the trees until they were able to find a suitable log to rest atop; walking was becoming easier, and they were all able to do it unaided now by the time they stopped.

The grumble of Pinkie's stomach as they sat down reminded them of one of their most immediate problems.

"Okay girls, this isn't going to be an easy situation for any of us, so I think we need to stick to a number of priorities." Twilight shifted easily into leader mode, and the others assented, though Rainbow with only half-hearted enthusiasm.

"First, we need the basics. Food, water – supplies – and shelter, which may be made easier by the second priority…

"Getting to know the local area and its inhabitants! The faster we do this, the faster we can succeed at our first priority, and that will allow us to concentrate more quickly on…

"Getting home!" She finished. _If only I had a blackboard for all this…_ She had to resist the urge to ask if the others had been taking notes.

Rainbow had a hand up now.

"So why isn't getting home our first priority? Seems like we can skip the others if we work on that early enough."

It was a legitimate question.

"In theory, yes, but we have no idea how we got here other than that it had something to do with the cyclone, and we can't replicate those conditions in an attempt to get back anyway. It might be that we are in the mirror-world, and we could be back home tomorrow, but I really don't know. Until we know more, we have to focus on the short-term, which is covered by our main priorities."

Applejack nodded, and the others assented also.

"Sounds like a plan!" Pinkie cried. "Ooh, I'll have to start planning a 'New World-warming' party! It'll be fantastic! Where to start…"

Only Rainbow remained lacking in enthusiasm – which, ironically, put her about level with Fluttershy at expressing it. "But… My wings…"

"C'mon, sugarcube." AJ pulled her in for a tight hug. "Twi'll have us home in no time flat! Just think of it like a challenge until we get back."

Dash responded with a reluctant smile.

"Y-yea... I'm sure everything'll be just fine…"

* * *

With something resembling a plan set, they tried to get their bearings, but doing so in a completely foreign environment turned out to be a nigh-on impossible task. They were at least able to work out that, all in all, they had only covered a mile in the hour or so they had been walking around… but that was all they could deduce.

It was still light out, but having no idea what time it had been when they arrived, they couldn't guess how long they had left before it got dark. _And that would be disastrous._

As they were getting increasingly hungry, Applejack proposed that they try something that she knew Twilight would be opposed to.

_The Pinkie Sense._

"But it's completely illogical, unscientific…" Twilight complained as they backed up to give the bearer of laughter some room. She stood still in the centre of their circle, eyes closed and apparently concentrating hard.

"Just let her do her thing." AJ whispered back.

Without warning, Pinkie jumped suddenly into motion, beginning to spin and twirl rapidly on the spot, making strange beeps and whistling sounds.

"Oh, here we go again…" Twilight sighed quietly.

At last, Pinkie came to a stop, closed her eyes, took a deep breath and opened them again.

"Nope, sorry! Got nothing!"

"Aha!" Twilight felt vindicated while a few of the others groaned. Pinkie shrugged.

"Well, I got something, but I don't know what it means. New body means new Pinkie sensations, right? Besides, I'd just say we should follow that smoke-trail to some kind of village or whatever there is over there!"

She pointed through the trees to where they could just about see, down a gently sloping hill, the sight of a rustic brick chimney spewing a faint cloud of smog. It was all they could make out, but it was enough.

More groans ensued.

"And why," Twilight muttered through gritted teeth. "Did you decide not to mention this before?"

Pinkie shrugged again and smiled happily.

"Oh, I hope there's some food there…" Fluttershy's stomach rumbled loudly as if to illustrate her point, and she blushed.

They got a short distance closer – close enough for Applejack to take a good sniff of whatever was drifting downwind.

"Smells like bakin' to me, now that I know what I'm lookin' for."

"So there is food there! Well, what are we waiting for, ladies?"

"I hope they have sweet things too!"

"Race ya, Applejack!" Some of Dash's spirit seemed to have returned at this positive turn of events.

"Oh, it's _on_ now!"

"Do be careful, girls…"

Despite the urge to hurry, they all looked back to Twilight. She smiled, and nodded.

"Let's go!"

_Looks like we might be able to scratch priorities one and two off of my mental blackboard if we can get help at this little village._ Twilight mused as they ran for the first time on their new, hopefully temporary legs. _I wonder what it's called…?_

Had she dodged left around an obstructing tree and looked far towards a stone path, she might have caught a glimpse of a road sign answering that very question.

_Goldshire._

* * *

Alternate Titles; 'Changes', 'We're not in Kansas anymore". Expect an update on Sunday, fingers crossed!


	3. A New Friend in Goldshire

They probably could have handled running, but going running down a hill with the extra momentum behind them turned out to be too much. Dash and AJ tumbled over in seconds as soon as the ground shifted into a downwards slope; Rarity and Pinkie only had time to slow down because they were quite so far behind.

Twilight hurried to catch up and slid down the hill at a more measured pace, Fluttershy in her wake. "Are you girls okay?" She asked worriedly.

"Yeah… We're fine." Rainbow groaned as the two got to their feet and dusted themselves off. They looked dazed, but otherwise unharmed, having come to a halt just short of hitting a big, goods-laden cart.

Their position gave them a good chance to look around the village, at what appeared to be the main, cobbled stone square. A large building – probably an inn – proved to be the source of the smoke, with a slightly smaller building with a giant bellows outside of it appearing to be a blacksmith's opposite it. A few brick houses stretched here and there beyond their sight.

"Hey!" They all froze in their tracks. "What are you doing nosying round my cart… my cart?!"

They turned to find that the voice belonged to a human man who had just come out of the inn. He hurried across the square towards them, looking a little indignant.

_"Oh, horseapples."_

_"What do we do?"_

_"Just stay calm, girls. I'll handle this."_ Twilight straightened up and raised her voice back up. "I'm sorry, we didn't realise that this was your cart. We just came out of the forest and missed the path."

The man had grey hair with a matching moustache and short goatee-like beard. He looked weighted down by the years and was running to fat. He chewed a small leaf, twisting and moving it around his mouth as he made his way towards them.

He squinted at them, as if having trouble seeing them properly. "I haven't seen you folks here in these parts before. Anyone from Goldshire would know to stay out of Elwynn Forest right now. Who are you… are you?"

"I'm Prin—" Twilight caught herself with a cough before she gave her full title, realising as she had in the mirror-world before that it would be risky to give it out to people she didn't know in another universe. "Sorry… I'm Twilight Sparkle. These are my friends," she said as she pointed to her friends in turn. "Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy."

"Excellent to make your acquaintance."

"Howdy."

"'Sup."

"Hiya!"

Fluttershy made a little noise that half sounded like she was trying to say hello; the other half coming out as barely more than a squeak.

The man raised an eyebrow.

"Those are some very strange names. Where did you come from?"

That question stumped them for a second. Twilight quickly tried to work out something believable to say; not an easy task, given that they didn't know the area at all. It probably wasn't the best idea for a few of the others to try to make up for such hesitation by all answering it all at once.

"We… fell out of the sky!"

"We got hungry, and…"

"There was this great big… animal, and—"

"We appeared in the forest…" Applejack never had been much good at spinning a story.

Twilight hadn't thought it possible for someone to raise their eyebrow so far above their eye, but this man was apparently capable of going even higher judging by his reaction. His gaze darted across each girl – fixing on their hair (Pinkie and Rainbow's in particular) as he frowned deeply, as if trying – and failing – to decide what to make of then.

She realised, as their stories became increasingly out of hand, that she had to act fast – they couldn't afford to make a bad impression on the first person they happened to meet this world. But perhaps the damage was done.

"Sorry about my friends." She interrupted their babbling hastily. "I'm afraid we've all got amnesia, and we're a bit confused. We can't remember very much other than that we were hit on the head very hard. We're looking for some food and shelter. Would you be able to help us?"

The man just looked at them for a moment, as if trying to process all of the information at once had slowed him down. He certainly seemed to be thinking very hard about something, that was for sure. Finally, he nodded. "Alright. Come with me… with me." He trudged off towards the inn again, and after a moment's hesitation Twilight motioned for the others to follow.

_"Amnesia? Really?"_ Rainbow Dash whispered incredulously as the man disappeared from view.

"I don't think he would have accepted anything else." Twilight replied. "Let's just hope we can trust him."

_But what else can we do?_

* * *

The inn was cosy and warm, not that it had been cold outside anyway. A door led to a backroom and a separate step of steps went upstairs. A fireplace sat in the corner and a number of benches and stools were laid out across the room in front of the bar.

Another man came up to the group as the first called him over. He had to be the innkeeper, or at least it was a reasonable assumption given the way he was polishing a glass. He looked somewhat younger than the other man.

"Hello again, Remy. What'll it be?" He asked.

"Some water, cheese and bread for these ladies please, Mr. Farley."

The innkeeper nodded, but frowned.

"You got the gold to pay for that?" He shot over his shoulder as he went out into the back.

"Put it on Mr. Trias's tab. He owes me."

"What have you got on Trias?" The innkeeper's voice came faint through the wall. He sounded genuinely curious.

"Never mind that… mind that. Just do it." Remy, their apparent new friend, turned back to the girls. "Take your seats, ladies. I'll be back in a minute. I just need to check on my stall… my stall." With that, he disappeared out of the door.

They did so, and looked around. The inn appeared to be empty apart from them, or at least this main room was. It looked safe for them to speak candidly.

"We agreein' on amnesia then?" AJ asked, breaking the silence first.

Twilight nodded. "I can't think of anything better. Can you?"

A pause, then the others all shook their heads.

"Nah. Best if I leave all the talkin' to everyone else then. Don't wanna slip up." The element of honesty decided.

"Sorry, Applejack. I know lying isn't easy for you. Maybe once we know more about this world we can come clean, but…"

"Naw, it's all right Twi. I know it's necessary an' all. We're all gonna have to make sacrifices to get through this."

Twilight smiled in return. "

"Ooh, ooh!" Pinkie cut in, and pulled the others close to her – which meant pulling Twilight, Applejack and Rarity uncomfortably across the table. "A tender moment always calls for a group hug!"

The innkeeper, Farley, returned just as they pulled apart, carrying a board laden with a large block of cheese, some freshly baked bread and two pitchers of water, and plates that he handed around.

"Dig in, ladies." He said as he planted it in the middle of them. "I expect Mr. Remy will be back soon. He's always in a hurry."

They thanked him and got to eating. It wasn't too much between the six of them, and they weren't full by the time they finished, but at least it took their minds and stomachs off the topic of hunger for a little while.

"Cheese might not be sweet, but it's still deeeeeliiiiiiicious!" Pinkie opined as she consumed the last of her share.

The inn door banged open and Remy walked back in, still chewing a leaf.

"Sorry about that. I had to make sure that my stock was okay… was okay. As I reckon Mr. Farley will have told you, my name is Remy. They call me Remy Two-Times; I don't know why… know why." _Ah, but I'm beginning to be able to make some guesses. _Twilight thought.

He pulled up another seat and sat at the end of the table. It was only now that they noticed the smell of sweat and something else – probably the leaf – coming off of him; Rarity recoiled a little as he leaned forward, but fortunately he didn't notice. "Now, lemme get this straight.

"You say you've all got amnesia. Now, I don't know if that's true," he said, holding up a gnarled hand to forestall Twilight's objections as she opened her mouth to speak. "But I do know that I don't really care. You certainly seem confused or mighty stupid for wandering around the forest at the moment with all the wild animals, gnolls and all the Defias bandits running around." Twilight had to glare Rainbow down at that remark as she seemed tempted to take offence. "Either way, I see an opportunity for a friend of mine, one that could benefit you as well. And me, as my friend'll owe me big time. So if you're_ really_ as lost and confused as you say… I'm bettin' you don't have any gold on you, do ya?"

They all looked at each other, knowing that he was right. Twilight nodded slowly.

"Well then, I've got an opportunity in the big ol' city of Stormwind for you."

_First "Goldshire" and "Elwynn Forest", now "Stormwind". At least we're getting some information about this world._ Twilight catalogued the information away in her brain for the future._ They don't sound like anything I remember from researching in the mirror-world, though… _

There was a moment's silence as the six mulled this over.

"We're listening." Rainbow said.

"What kind of opportunity?" Rarity asked.

"'fraid there's only one way way to get gold in this place, and that's work. Well, legally anyway. Best we don't talk about that other stuff… other stuff."

He trailed off as a sound grew closer outside the inn. The door swung open again and two figures, one male and one clearly female, clanked into the bar. They were decked out in full metal plate armour, all shining silver and blue. They had swords holstered at their hips and shields on their backs. Both wore blue tabards etched with what appeared to be a stylised golden lion covering their chests and abdomens. They carried crested helmets at their waists and stared at Remy and the gathering with suspicion and a small amount of hostility.

"Hope you're not up to anything illegal, Remy." One of them, the woman, said in a loud voice.

_Illegal? Is this man a criminal?_

The man with grey hair shook his head quickly in response.

"Not at all, officers! Just discussing business with my new friends… new friends. We were just leaving."

The two armoured figures seemed tempted to stop them, but ultimately moved out of the way to let them pass as they piled their plates and stood.

"Stay out of trouble, Remy." The woman from before called after them as they left.

"Of course! Wouldn't dream of any trouble… any trouble." He checked around as if to make sure there were no more of the same group around, then looked back to the girls. "Sorry. You make just one mistake and the guard follow you around for the rest of your life…"

_Oh, okay. Former criminal. That's __**so**__ much better._

"I like following people around! It's so much fun getting to know what everyone's doing!" Pinkie giggled, and Remy looked at her strangely.

"Right… Well, like I said, it's just a little job in the city. If I know my friend, it won't be too hard and the pay should be reasonable. Are you interested?"

Twilight looked to the others. "What do you think, girls?"

Applejack and Pinkie nodded immediately. Rarity looked a little reluctant, and Fluttershy seemed unsure, but both assented also. Rainbow, however, came right up to Twilight, close enough to whisper in her ear.

"I still think we need to work on getting home ASAP. This just sounds like a distraction."

"It's either this or we wander around a forest and starve without any money." Twilight pointed out darkly, but her expression softened when she saw Rainbow's face. She put a comforting hand around her friend's shoulder and pulled her closer. "I'm sorry. I know it's really hard for you without your wings. But we have to make the best of this, and I promise we'll do everything to get back as soon as possible."

Rainbow Dash drew back and grinned weakly, clearly swallowing a lump in her throat.

_What choice do we really have?_

"All right." The former pony Princess said, turning back to Remy with as much of a smile as she could manage on her face. "We're in."

* * *

Remy took them out of the village, but not the way they had come from. If that way had been south, and they had gone north into Goldshire, they had started heading northeast now.

"We'll stick to the path here; don't wanna risk any bandit attacks." He told them as they walked down the paved-stone road. "It'll only take about to twenty minutes to get to Stormwind… to Stormwind."

They continued on for a little while, passing dense foliage on both sides, broken up at one point by a quaint little cottage.

"So… this Stormwind place." Applejack broke the silence. "Is it a big town?" _Wonder if it can hold up to Canterlot._

Remy looked surprised.

"Hmm? Oh, Stormwind's no town, oh no no. It's a city, biggest one around as far as I know, except maybe Ironforge in the north. Capital of humanity, and of the whole Alliance."

"Right…"

_Ironforge? The Alliance? _Twilight was beginning to grow concerned. _Oh, there's so much we need to learn about this world. We're going to have to be so very careful that we don't make a mistake and pay for it… I need to find some books to read about this world ASAP!_

"Sounds like one big happy family! I can't wait to meet everyone and throw the biggest party ever!" Pinkie jumped around happily. She really had adapted well to her new form.

"…Is she always like that?"

"No. Usually she's bouncier_._"

Their first sight of the city walls took their collective breath away.

It was partly just how the brick seemed to shine in the light. It had the appearance to be marble, but it simply couldn't have been – the material still had that effect though. Blue cloth banners hung from the walls, proudly displaying the image of the same stylised lion as before in gold trim. Openings were built into the wall, from which men kept a constant vigil.

Two massive wooden gates sat open under an arch flanked by two tall spires, and a glinting white rock lion stood sentinel on either side of the portal.

All they could see beyond was more shining stone.

Their guide chuckled at their initial reaction. "Yep, that happens to a lot of people when they first see the city. Come now, let's get inside… get inside."

A few people were ahead of them, and a steady stream of people were making their way out towards them, carefully watched by four guards – two on either side – equipped similarly to the two they had seen in the inn.

"Be prepared for a lot of attention." Remy warned them quietly as they approached the gates.

"Why?"

"Haven't you noticed? Your hair stands out… stands out."

True, they certainly were getting a lot of stares. Heads _were_ turning as they walked past, and the people doing so weren't exactly being very subtle about it. Most of the people around them appeared to have shades of black, brown, or blonde hair, with the occasional red. Not pink, purple, or _rainbow_. Pinkie didn't even seem to notice the attention, or at least hid it well; Fluttershy, in contrast, turned bright red as soon as she realised it.

No matter how curious the guards were, thought, they didn't try to challenge the group. They made it all the way across an inner bridge, flanked on both sides by a series of giant statues, to get to the inner city.

The statues were unmissable, and all adorned by a large plaque at their base. Twilight's attention was drawn to two in particular, one of a short, bearded male, the other clearly of a lanky female with a bow and a quiver of arrows, holding a hawk up to the skies.

She approached the latter, splitting off from the group, and quickly read the plaque.

'_Ranger Captain Alleria Windrunner. Renowned Troll Hunter of Quel'Thalas. Lead Scout and Intelligence Agent for the Alliance Expedition that marched into the orc homeworld of Draenor. Presumed deceased.'_ The rest was a quote, and she stopped reading there_. So much information. There are clearly lots of races in this world._ She thought, staring up at the woman's distinctive, pointy ears and hawkish face. _She's not human, and nor is that man. And what about trolls, and orcs? I really am going to need a book…_

Most importantly, the plaque talked about other worlds_. Maybe they can travel between them here? Maybe getting back __**will**__ be that easy? _She didn't quite dare to hope.

They were stopped at last in front of another statue, and were given their biggest surprise yet.

"You'd better not be bringing any trouble into my city, Remy." an imposing man with flaming hair thundered as he approached them, riding a…

_**IS THAT A PONY?**_

"No trouble, General Johnathon, sir. No trouble at all. Just on our way to see Mr. Trias about some cheese." Remy said. The general's eyes narrowed at the name, but he said nothing else. The girls simply gawked at the grey p- no, it had to be a horse, it was far too big to be one like them. It served – happily, apparently – as a mount for the bearded man in plate armour atop it.

Their eyes didn't leave the horse even as they rounded a corner and made their way into the city proper. They didn't notice the general staring equally as hard back at them.

Remy was asking them something, but what they had just seen had given them too much to think about. Too many implications.

_They can't just be beasts, here…_

_What kind of world is this?_

* * *

Chapter 3 done! Expect chapter 4 no later than Wednesday, perhaps sooner.


	4. Stormwind Highs and Lows

They didn't have to walk much further into what Remy termed the "Trade District" before he pointed at a shop and walked them towards it. It looked well-kept, from the outside at least. A hanging sign from the upper floor depicted a stylised image of a piece of cheese, and indeed looking through the windows they could see a wide variety of cheese on display.

So, they gathered, it was a cheese shop.

The rather large sign above the door was also bit of a giveaway.

"Mr. Trias is one of the most honest men in Stormwind I know… I know." Remy told them as they approached the door. "Well, mostly honest."

"What—"

"Just let me do the talking to begin with."

He led them inside, and they were immediately assailed by the smell and taste in the air of the various products on offer. It was mostly pleasing to the senses, but there were a few brands that were more pungent than the rest. The shop itself was clean and tidy, if a little plain.

"Remy?" said a female voice, and a blonde-haired woman emerged from the staircase at the side of the room. Like many of the others they had seen so far in this world, her eyes darted between them rapidly, especially around their hair.

"Afternoon, Elaine." he replied. "Can you fetch Elling, please?"

She nodded slowly and ascended the stairs again. They didn't have to wait too long until she came back down, followed by a man that could only be Elling Trias.

His sharp black hair contrasted deeply with Elaine's, although he wore a similar outfit that was probably some kind of uniform. Most striking about him was the eye patch he wore which completely eclipsed his right eye. He stared at them through the remaining one, his expression too blank to meaningfully interpret, but again, the lingering gaze at their hair…

"What's this, then, Remy?" he spoke after a short silence. Twilight coughed uncomfortably.

"These are some girls I just met, who might be the answer to the little problem you told me about. I think it's best if we have a little chat, Elling. I'll explain everything."

Trias frowned, and then nodded at last. Remy walked away from the girls and past him, up the stairs, as he turned to his wife. "Elaine, could you—"

"Of course." she said briskly, and swept towards the girls. "Are any of you hungry?"

_Well, we didn't exactly fill ourselves up at the inn before…_

"I'm always up for some food!" Pinkie yelled, bouncing up to the front of the group. "I'm Pinkie Pie, it's great to meet you!"

"I can't say no if it's free'n'all." Applejack agreed.

"I hope you like cheese, then…"

* * *

"I asked you about it on the offhand chance, Remy. I didn't expect you to bring so many in…"

"It's not just that, Elling. You're just lucky I was able to give them that excuse, and that it's true. I was thinking about… other things… when I brought them to you… to you."

"…such as?"

Remy shifted uncomfortably, and Trias sighed.

"The guard won't leave me alone, Elling, they won't let any of my shipments get into Goldshire without a thorough check. Bad for business, it is. Real bad. But you and your connections, you could get me some breathing room."

"I could… but why should I?"

"Because." Now Remy smiled, and smiled deeply indeed. "Because these girls aren't normal… aren't normal. Just wait until you hear their names, and, I mean, just look at their hair."

"I've seen stranger, 'specially with all these draenei running around Stormwind nowadays."

"Sure, but this is different. They just wandered out of Elwynn Forest like it was nothing. Completely oblivious, like."

That was quite unusual, Trias had to admit.

"They claim they've got amnesia, but I'm not sure about that. Certainly don't seem to know much about Stormwind, or anything, really. Could just be stupid, but I don't know.

"I know you watch out for Stormwind's safety still, Elling, even if you have retired. This could be a big find… big find. These girls could be very important…"

"…"

"And if they are…"

"You'll be rewarded, fine. As you want. But I need some time to confirm what you've said to me. Give me a month or two."

Remy gave him a look, and he sighed again.

"Fine. I'll let Farley know to give you access to my tab at the inn for the time being. Happy?"

"It'll do. And you won't regret it." Remy promised him, smiling as he moved towards the staircase again.

"I'd better not." Trias grumbled, checking his watch as he moved to follow the older man. "And you'd better not blow it all on booze this time. I'll be watching it carefully."

The two men came back downstairs to find the shop floor empty, the door closed and a sign placed over the door saying much the same. Elaine had closed up the shop and taken the six into the back room.

"I'd best be off then… off then." Remy held out his hand for Trias to shake.

"Not going to say goodbye?" Trias raised an eyebrow quizzically as he took the proffered hand. Remy shrugged.

"'s not like I know 'em. Have fun, Elling. I'll warn you now…" he added, a wry smile on his face as he walked out the door. "They're crazy." He let the door swing to and started to head back down the street out of the city.

Trias watched him go, shaking his head. _Great… Just what have I gotten myself into now…_

* * *

Some time later, Trias was pacing back and forth in the dining room, munching on a chunk of Stormwind Brie-encrusted bread. It was normally his favourite place in his shop-home, besides the basement on a delivery day. It was normally a calm place, soothing even. It felt great to relax in a chair by the fire after a hard day's work.

Now, however, he had six young women as guests of his establishment, and he hadn't a clue what to make of them.

They ranged from extreme to extreme, extroverted to introverted, reserved to explosive , always smiling to perpetually scowling. _And the names…_

_Rainbow Dash? Fluttershy? Pinkie Pie? _

He'd never heard anything like it before – and he'd had a very interesting career.

"Let me get this straight, then," he addressed the six, now sat around his dining table, finishing off the leftovers of the Trias's morning meal. _Elaine always made extra, bless her. _"You've got amnesia. You don't know where you came from, or anything about Stormwind, or Azeroth, or anything like that?"

"Pretty much." one of the six replied; _Twilight Sparkle,_ that was her name. "So _Azeroth _is this planet's name?"

He could only sigh in response.

_It was the kind of story one would tell if they had something to hide, and yet, who didn't?_ Trias certainly knew that better than most.

He had nothing to base suspicion on but the sheer absurdity of their story, and their strange appearances. _Remy was right, curse him_. _Better that they are somewhere I can keep an eye on them, really. _

"All right. You're lucky Remy brought you to me, really, as he's right. I do have an offer to make you."

The six looked at each other, and then Twilight answered again. She seemed to be the leader of the group. "We're listening."

"My son, Ben, has been training to take over some of the duties of the shop, and become, like me, a master of cheese."

Across the table, Rainbow Dash stifled a giggle at the title. Trias chose to ignore it.

"However, just yesterday in fact, he departed for some experience of how other races in the Alliance conduct their cheesemaking. There's a conference in Kharanos going on right now with some interesting theories about the apparent magical traits of some variations on the traditional Dalaran sharp and…" He babbled on for a little while before realising that he was close to losing half the group's attention entirely.

"Anyway, he's gone for a month, and at the worst possible time. Cheese is big in Stormwind right now, and Elaine and I are finding it hard to keep up with the trade demand on the shop floor and the like. What's more, we have a warehouse at the edge of the city that we just stashed a large shipment of various cheeses in. While I would normally have my son do it, or a family friend, we need someone to watch over it… and we're having trouble finding anyone."

"…and that's where we come in?" Twilight guessed correctly, brushing a strand of lavender hair out of her eyes. Trias nodded.

"Right. Since there's so many of you I think we can use that to our advantage, too. I'd need someone to help watch the shop floor during opening hours, one to watch the warehouse or maybe two if you want to avoid getting board, and maybe one more on standby."

"That sounds well-organised." Twilight nodded approvingly.

"Ooh, ooh, I'd be great at helping out with the shop! I used to work at a bakery back home!" Another of the six, Pinkie Pie, spoke up, literally bouncing up and down on her seat. It was mildly fascinating that anyone could have so much energy… _But, wait. Don't they have amnesia?_

"And you can remember that?"

Twilight's eyes widened considerably. There was a pause, as if some of the six – perhaps the more switched on – were drawing hushed breaths.

"Yep!" Pinkie shrugged happily.

Remy was right, they're definitely crazy. I'll have to watch them carefully indeed. But, back to the matter at hand.

"I'd pay you all for the time you put in, and you'd be welcome to stay here and eat and drink for free; I'm guessing you don't have anywhere else to go." He was assuming, but assuming correctly, proven so by their swift nods._ The money spent on their lodging and wages should be made up by the good season anyway. And if Remy's right, we could be doing Stormwind more good than a little gold would demonstrate anyway._ "Anyone not on duty would be free to do what they want, of course.

"So, ladies… are you interested?"

They all looked at Twilight, and she looked round at them, looking each in the eye.

_Yep, definitely the leader._

At last, she turned back to look _him _in the eye.

"Mr. Trias…" she grinned. "Thank you. I believe we have a deal."

"Call me Elling. And thank _you_."

* * *

"So… we're definitely doing this, then?"

"I didn't say so for nothing, Rainbow." Twilight said levelly as she rearranged her pillow. "I think it's a great opportunity for us to get to know this world better. We've already fulfilled two of our three objectives! We can start looking for a way home straight away!"

"Yeah, I suppose…"

"Come on, dear." Rarity yawned as she spoke. The day had taxed her more than the likes of AJ and Dash and Pinkie (who had surprising reserves of energy), that was clear.

They had been forced to split up into two rooms by the simple lack of space available in the upstairs bedroom, the one apparently belonging to the Trias's son. So, Pinkie, Applejack and Fluttershy had gone upstairs for now, leaving the remaining three in the dining room for the evening, curled up on chairs and across a sofa with soft spare pillows and itchy blankets.

They planned on swapping each night.

"Have a little positivity. If we keep this rate of progress up—"

"We'll be home in no time, I get it." Rainbow sighed as she leaned back into her own pillow. "I just really miss my wings…"

"And I miss Sweetie Belle, and Opal..." Rarity joined in after a moment.

"And I miss Spike." Twilight finished. "And my family, Princess Celestia and everyone else. It's them not being within reach that hurts. But we'll get through it, and we'll get back to them. I promise.

"Better get some sleep, girls. We start work early tomorrow…"

* * *

And so they did. Trias had them up for breakfast at six; early for Rainbow Dash to function properly, though the others, for various reasons, were accustomed to limited rest. Twilight and Rarity worked late nights and often got up early the next day; Pinkie had invariably started early to bake the day's goods. Fluttershy was used to waking up to care for the troubles of some animal or another, while Applejack rose at the first light of dawn, if not before then, to get a good handle on the day's chores.

The master of cheese took Applejack and Rarity off early to his warehouse at the edge of the city, promising to be back soon. Pinkie had enthusiastically volunteered to staff the shop floor first, and that mean checking the shelves and counters for any spoiled food, and replacing what needed to be replaced. Rainbow went first on standby, which meant that she could go straight back to sleep for a few more hours.

That left Twilight and Fluttershy.

"Your time's yours for a few hours, girls. I'd make the most of it." Elaine told the two as she tied her apron behind her and washed her hands. She was a terse woman, but not unkind.

They thanked her, and headed outside. It was still a little dark outside, but the sun was clearly starting to rise in the sky. Traders up and down the street were starting to lay out their wares. The day was on the cusp of truly beginning.

"I don't really know where to start, to be honest… Shall we go take a look around while we can, then?"

"Um, okay…"

The two friends passed through the Trade District quickly; they had no money to spend, after all. They took the westernpath out, and arrived at…

"A canal system, huh?" Twilight bent down at the edge of the water-feature to examine it, as Fluttershy looked around worriedly at their empty surroundings – it was much too early for anyone to really be wandering the streets. "I wonder where they source the water from. I thought I smelled the ocean before, but it can't just be from there. Fascinating…"

They walked on a little further, over the bridge and down another street, until they finally came to a useful sign post.

"_Mage Quarter_… this way. That sounds interesting. Sounds like magic is a key part of this world. I think we ought to check it out. What do you think, Fluttershy… Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy wasn't paying attention; she was too busy staring at the sign above the first.

"The Park…" She muttered quietly, then suddenly, manically, grabbed the other girl by the shoulders.

"Gah!"

"Twilight!" She half-screeched, half-hissed. "You don't think they've got animals at this park, do you?"

_Well, logic suggests…_

"Uh… probably?"

Fluttershy released Twilight, who rubbed her shoulders gently. The gentle girl took a deep breath… and then promptly took off running in the direction of the park."

"I'M COMING MY FRIEEEEEEENDS~"

"Fluttershy…!" Twilight called after her, but it was futile; she was long gone. The former princess sighed and made her own way towards the Mage Quarter. _I'll never catch her now, anyway… Maybe this way leads all the way through._

Before long, she had walked through a tunnel and into the district itself. Shops boasting reagents for spells and all kinds of herbs, potions, and equipment lined the streets. Twilight passed by them slowly, drinking in as much knowledge as she could.

She found herself behind a group of three women, probably about her age (though it was hard to tell) – one was blond and the others were redheads, though one had lighter red hair than the other. Their pace was slow enough that Twilight herself had to decrease her speed, and managed to eavesdrop on their conversation quite effectively; although, at the volume at which they were talking, it was rather hard not to.

"If we reverse the Essence flows perhaps we can alter the polarity."

"I suppose that could work, if we had twenty people to cast it with."

"The magical wards at that point should be supported enough by the energy flux to contain the entity."

"The resultant energies could collapse though, and that could cause the energy flux to give you a migraine for weeks."

"Always_ so _negative. The chances of that happening are between zero and none!"

_Hang on, Twilight suddenly realised, they're talking about…_

She couldn't help herself.

"Excuse me!" She jumped forward, inserting herself into their conversation. They turned to look at her, surprised by the interruption. "But are you by any chance talking about an essence-binding energy-capture spell?"

The three looked surprised. "We… are." The lighter-redhead replied cautiously. Twilight was suddenly aware of their deep scrutiny; not of her hair this time, but her clothes. "But what would you know anything about that?"

"Well." Twilight grinned, happy to have a chance to display her knowledge. "I know that you don't need twenty people to cast it with to ensure stability if you arrange the wards in a quadratic pattern; you'd only need four. The risk of energy collapse is a problem, yes, and the results would be much worse than a simple migraine. But you could avoid that by decelerating the rate of casting and thus the energy drain, and so you'd spread the problem out over a much longer and much less dangerous period of…" She trailed off as their stares became piercing. "…Sorry. I shouldn't have interrupted. I'll be on my way."

She turned to go quickly, but a hurried shout from one of the girls stopped her.

"Wait!" They cried, and she turned back. "We hadn't thought of that before, but…"

"You're almost certainly right!"

"She's definitely right!" The last girl corrected. "That explains everything!"

"But, how could you possibly know that? We've never seen you at any of Malin's lessons before… which family do you come from?"

"Uh…" She wracked her brains for a good excuse, but was saved the trouble as another of the girls pulled impatiently at the first's shoulder.

"Never mind that, we'll be late for Malin's lesson! You!" She barked, jabbing a finger at Twilight and causing her to jump a little. "You're amazing!"

Twilight blushed, hard, but before she could reply she was grabbed by the arm by the blonde.

"You're coming with us to meet Archmage Malin, new BFF!" She giggled, and the other two swiftly joined her in dragging the lavender-haired woman through the streets of the Mage Quarter.

Still blushing, Twilight had no idea what to think as she was pulled away.

* * *

Fluttershy found the entrance to the park without too much trouble. Breathless, she paused to catch it before heading inside through the tunnel.

_Oops_, she thought as she looked back and realised that Twilight was nowhere to be found. _I guess I ran too fast and got away from her. But the animals…_

She was a little worried about being on her own, but found strength in the knowledge that she would get to make some new friends soon enough. She missed Angel and the others already. _I hope they're being looked after._

She followed the spiralling path up and came to the edge of a raised platform, where, to her delight, sat a wondrous gathering of animals around a large, odd-looking cat of a species she didn't recognise. Flanking the cat were two people, a male and a female – but they clearly weren't human; at least not like any she'd seen yet. The pointy ears and bright glowing eyes gave that away, and they were much taller besides.

They seemed to have such an excellent connection with nature, though. She watched them scatter seeds and another little treats to the squirrels, the cats, the dogs and the little birds arrayed around them. She desperately wanted to join them up on the platform.

Fluttershy took another step forward…

…and tripped, landing face-first on the brick of the platform and knocking herself out.

She came to moments later, dazed and confused, but quickly realised what she had just done.

Her fall had spooked all of the little creatures, who had backed away and retreated up trees and other high places. The two non-humans were shouting at her in a language she couldn't understand.

Worst of all, the cat growled at her and changed, right in front of her eyes, into another of the tall not-humans, who joined the others in angrily remonstrating with her.

With no idea what to make of any of this, and shamed by the disruption she had accidentally caused, Fluttershy hurriedly fled back the way she had come, tears stinging her face as they leapt from her eyes.


	5. Pets, Magic, and a whole lot of Light

Embarrassment, fear and shame were just a few of the emotions running through Fluttershy's head as she barrelled her way through the streets of Stormwind, desperate to get as far away from the park as possible.

The occasional concerned guard looked her way along the roads, but she passed them too quickly for them to ask what was wrong.

She ran and ran and ran until she simply couldn't anymore. Eventually she ground to a halt, doubling over to catch her breath after the physical effort she had just committed it to.

As the oxygen flooded back into her system and she slowly calmed down, she realised she'd made a terrible mistake. She'd run without a clue where she was going, and certainly not back the way she had come.

She was very, very lost.

Panic threatened to overwhelm her, but she kept going. Sitting down and waiting wouldn't solve anything. She tried to retrace her steps, but the canals were like a maze to her, and she couldn't find any helpful signs.

_I think I'm just going in circles. Oh, no, no, no. What do I do now?_

She thought now about asking one of the guards for help, but couldn't bring herself to do it. The plate armour, their enclosed faces… they were just too emotionless, too intimidating. She didn't dare approach them.

Continuing on regardless, Fluttershy found herself staring down a tunnel that didn't seem familiar – but, then, if it wasn't one she'd seen before, it could very well be a different way back into the Trade District they had started the day off in. Taking a deep breath and steeling herself, she started to walk through it.

She emerged out the other side into a world of noise and shouting. The very air seemed thicker here, heavy with the smell of burning, and of smoke. The whole area seemed somewhat darker than the rest of the city, even on such a bright morning. A horrible smog hung over it.

This clearly wasn't the right way. She turned to go back out the way she came…

…and slammed straight into something big and yet oddly soft.

Dazed, she fell to the ground, rubbing her head. She slowly opened her eyes and came face-to-face with the angriest bear she'd ever seen.

"Muzzle! Damn insane bear! Watch out, miss, he can be a wee bit testy in tha' mornin'—" someone shouted, but she could only half hear them. Suddenly the whole atmosphere of the place seemed to brighten for her.

_Omigoshomigosh! He's soooooo cute!_

The black bear barely had time to raise a claw towards her before she moved, stroking its back with one hand and tickling its throat with the other. It calmed down immediately, and within moments she had it rolling on the floor, wagging its tail with its tongue sticking out.

"Tha's… incredible." This time she heard the voice clearly, and turned to its owner – and, presumably, the bear's owner, too. He was short – much shorter than any of the humans she'd seen so far – but stocky, and he had a thick, bushy ginger beard. He stared at her in shock as she reduced his friend to an affectionate mess. "I've ne'er seen Muzzle act like that with anyone. Ye have a special touch, miss."

Fluttershy blushed deeply. "Oh, I don't know about that. I'm just really good at working with animals."

The short person raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Where're ye from?"

She couldn't give him an answer to that, and panicked. What could she say? "Um. Um. Well. I, uh…" She tried to copy the others and say _Sorry, but I have amnesia_, but she couldn't spit it out.

He seemed to guess that she wasn't too great at speaking to strangers, and shrugged. "Does nae matter. M'name's Thorfin, what's yers?"

"F-F-Fluttershy." It was easier to speak when she focused her attention on the bear, but she didn't want to seem rude…

"Tha's a funny name. A'ight Miss Fluttershy, ye jus' migh' be able to help me with a lil' problem I'm havin'. See, Muzzle here isn't ma pet, he belongs to a friend o'mine. He does nae like me, though, always tries escapin'.

"Now, ye seem really good with animals. I can tell tha' just by lookin' at ye with him. Think ye might a foolish old dwarf able to gimme some pointers?"

_He said dwarf like it was what he is; it didn't seem like an insult. And those tall, scary people with purple skin from before… There must be lots of races on this planet…_

It was a bit of a struggle keeping up with his accent, but she got the gist of it. She wasn't too sure about walking off with a stranger, but, then again,_ everyone _here was a stranger. She couldn't just run and hide away in her home like she normally would when things got scary.

Her house was a little too far out of reach, after all.

She had to go and make more friends. And this was an opportunity to do so.

She realised suddenly that he was waiting for an answer.

"I… I'd be happy to." she said at last, standing up from stroking the bear. "But… I've managed to get myself a little lost. After we're done, could you show me where the trade district is please?"

"First time in Stormwind, eh?" He nodded sympathetically as he pointed her down the street at one of the houses. "Ye. It's a lil' confusing. I'd be happy to! Now, we'd best get movin'. I had a cuppa brewin' when I came out to let Muzzle stretch his legs…"

* * *

"Just about made it back in time!" Twilight stood outside Trias' shop, looking up at the clock tower. It was in the centre of the canal system, but it was quite visible from most of the city, she'd found. She'd made a note of the time that she'd left and had come back exactly four hours after.

_Those were nice girls. _She thought back to the new friends she'd just made in the Mage District. They were all a little younger than she was, and were all mages themselves; they turned out to be students of a powerful wizard. His name was Malin, and after giving the other girls a talking-to for being late and setting them some tasks, he'd poured some tea and sat down to talk with her.

She fed him the same amnesia story that she'd told everyone else, and he had replied that it wasn't uncommon in Azeroth, then spent the rest of the time she had free trying to "refresh her memory" – which she'd taken as an excellent opportunity to learn more about the world.

She'd learned a lot, especially about their magic. Some of it seemed quite similar to what she was familiar with, but the strangest thing was that humans didn't need horns to cast spells here – it seemed that anyone could do it, if they had a certain_ spark_.

Malin had told her that he was quite certain that she had that spark. He offered her the chance to study with him at the tower for a time, and they would see if they could work towards getting her memory back at the same time.

Hopefully, access to the castle library would also help to jog it too.

She had hastily accepted, her eyes dancing at that last part.

Their time was up, so he'd sent for one of the girls – Suzanne, the darker redhead – to take her back to the trade district. They'd chatted all the way, and waved goodbye to each other at the end of the street.

_My first new friend here!_ She'd smiled to herself as the mage had disappeared off towards the tower again. _I hope Princess Celestia would be proud…_

Looking inside the cheese shop, she saw Pinkie Pie waving happily to her from behind the counter, and nodded to Elaine as the older woman caught her eye and held up five fingers to her. The meaning was clear – _five minutes_.

"Twilight!" She turned at the sound of her name to find Fluttershy hurrying towards her. Twilight grinned as her friend skidded to a halt in front of her, panting for breath.

"Looks like you're a little lighter on your feet now, Fluttershy! Great job!"

"Oh, dear, I'm not late, am I? I got a little side-tracked. Oh, and I'm so sorry that I ran off on you earlier! I didn't mean to worry you, I—"

"It's okay, Fluttershy." Twilight interrupted – the former pegasus seemed close to hyperventilating. "We've still got a few more minutes. And I'm just glad that you're okay. Did you have fun?"

Fluttershy calmed a little and gave her signature shy smile. "Oh, yes! I met some of the nicest dwarves, and they had this beautiful bear! They said I'm welcome to come back any time!"

_Dwarves?_ The word flashed into Twilight's mind – Malin had listed it as one of the races in the Alliance.

"That's great!" I met a few girls, they turned out to be mages! You know, it seems that magic in this world isn't that different from back in Equestria, and…"

Once she was off, it was almost impossible for her to stop. Fluttershy listened patiently, nodding at the right moments.

Not too long later, Pinkie burst out of the shop, jumping into a hug with the two. She wanted to hear all about what they'd gotten up to, but it would have to wait – Elaine was waiting for the two inside. With that, she skipped off down the street.

"She's amazing, that Pinkie Pie." Elaine commented as the two entered the shop. "She's a natural saleswoman. Elling's not going to believe today's figures."

They giggled.

"Yep." Twilight said. "Pinkie sure is special."

* * *

Pinkie bounced up and down atop the battlements of the little keep, shifting her gaze all around her.

She'd asked Elaine where she could buy some treats, _'cause everypon—uh, every__**one **__knows that Pinkie just loves sweet things! And sharing sweet things, and double sharing sweet things, and triple—_

There was a 'gnome', apparently. He sold ice cream._ Strawberry_ ice cream. He would normally be in the trade district, but apparently today he was visiting his cousin, who wandered around the canal with a cart. Two gnomes! She just had to find them!

And how better than to look from a high vantage point in the middle of it all?

Elaine had given her an advance just so she could get some of the frozen treat. _How nice is she? I know, right?_

"Uh, ma'am?" She felt a tap on the shoulder, and turned to see one of the guards in full plate speaking to her. "How… how did you get up here?"

"Oh, you know!" Pinkie giggled, giving her biggest smile. "Just looking for a gnome or two!"

The guard smiled awkwardly back, and was about to say that that didn't answer his question, but she'd spotted her target. "Aha!"

With that, she was on the keep no longer, leaving the guard standing around and scratching his head.

Five minutes later, she was slurping down the biggest strawberry ice cream cone she'd been able to buy. The gnome had assumed that she was dressing up for something, given her hair, and had charged her only half price. _How nice of him! These people are all so nice!_

_Where do I go next? Maybe I'll go look for the others, or—_

Her nose twitched.

_WAIT. I hear singing!_

She hurried towards the sound of the noise, heading down a few streets until she was within walking distance of a giant, pointy-roofed building with beautiful stained-glass windows. The singing was coming from inside. _I've got to investigate!_

The door was open, but she'd been a little too slow. The sound trailed off as she walked through, to be replaced by the droning hum of a mass of people talking.

She emerged into a giant, brightly lit room, where rows of seats stretched towards the back of the building and a blocky, cloth-covered rectangle sat atop a tiered platform.

And in front of that stood a group of eight people, all dressed in white robes. Each carried a book in their hands.

"We are getting there, my friends!" one of the eight said joyously. His robes were more opulent than the rest; he had a grey, scratchy beard and a naturally long face, but his eyes spoke of warmth _and hugs and light and warm fires and—_"Just a few more tries, from the top!"

OMIGOSH! They're going to sing again!

"Ooh, are you going to sing again?" Pinkie was beside the man suddenly, and he jumped. The others looked startled. "Can I join in? I love singing so much!"

"Erm, I'm sorry, miss, but our rehearsals aren't open to the public, I'm afraid you'll—"

"Oh, is this a private party? I just love those! They're the best! Well, except public parties, they're even better! I just love how you can use so much more confetti and streamers and banners and everything at a public party! And, I mean, you can get soooo much more singing in as well! And the more people that sing, the better it gets, until you just get this huge mashing together of sound and people and fun! And laughter's the best part about all that, because when you're laughing, you're having fun, right? I'm sure you guys know that, you're having a party right now, aren't you? I dunno, though, it could use a lot more confetti and streamers! How's this?"

She twirled around, jumped into the air and landed on her knees. The air exploded in a burst of confetti, streamers and other party equipment.

They all gaped at her.

"I… I…" The big hat man stammered.

"Archbishop Benedictus! Look! My hand! The finger I cut at the start of the session…!" one of the other men in the group gasped loudly.

"I remember. What of it, my child?"

"She… she healed it!"

There was a flurry of movement as the group closed up around the man with the injured finger. She could hear them whispering.

"…didn't even cast a spell…"

"…remarkable…"

"…what was in that confetti?"

She frowned. _Didn't they like the confetti? Maybe I should go…_

The whispering suddenly stopped. The group took one last look at her and then seven of them departed, scurrying off to different adjacent rooms in the building, leaving only the man with the glitzy robes and big hat.

"Forgive me my child." He started slowly, a small smile on his lips. "But I do not believe we have ever met. My name is Archbishop Benedictus." He reached out his hand.

"My name's Pinkie Pie! Nice to meet you!" She grinned happily, shaking his hand vigorously.

"Well then, Miss Pinkie Pie. What do you know about the Holy Light?"

* * *

Rainbow Dash sighed as she stalked down the streets. At least she wasn't tired; being on standby had let her go straight back to sleep, and she'd never be up before ten in a normal situation.

Normally, she'd just find a nice cloud to lie down on, tuck her wings away, make sure the breeze was just light enough, and then she would snooze. Waking up to the sun shining overhead was the best thing ever.

Of course, this wasn't a normal situation.

_And I don't have my wings._

She'd wanted to stay and sleep some more, but Elaine had forced her out. "The day's not meant for staying in bed." the woman had barked. "Go get some fresh air!"

She looked up, gazing at the sky. There were a few clouds here and there, none that would have been too much for her to handle back in Equestria. She imagined how she'd deal with each one, shift them round in the sky, and…

All she could think about was flying, or her wings. Every few steps she felt the instinctual urge to jump. Let the wind catch her and just… take off.

_But I can't. Not anymore._

_What's a pegasus pony without her wings?_

_Heck, I'm not even a pony anymore. What are humans even good at, anyway? I guess the hands are kinda useful, but that's about it. I could run faster back home. I could fly…_

…

_Without my wings, am I even awesome anymore?_

She sighed again and continued walking around the canals. She had no idea where she was going, and didn't particularly care.

A pink blur dashed off to her right, and she tracked it out of reflex. Years of living with Pinkie Pie had trained that into her.

And sure enough, there went her pink-haired friend, zooming into a passage that lead past a signpost that said "Cathedral District".

_What's a cathedral? Never mind…_

"Hey, Pinkie, wait up!" Rainbow shouted, but went unheard. She broke into a run and followed her.

She'd been athletic as a pony, and it paid off in this body too. Racing against most people, she suspected that she'd do pretty well.

But Pinkie was Pinkie, and she didn't count as "most people".

Rainbow counted herself lucky that she at least managed to catch a glimpse of her friend before the latter disappeared into a large building that took up the majority of the square.

_Is this a cathedral?_

Rainbow hesitated at the door; even though it was open, she doubted Pinkie would have stopped outside anyway. But no, it seemed that it was supposed to be, so she cautiously walked inside.

The majority of the building turned out to be one room, a vast, tall, echoing hall. Rainbow paused at the edge of it to watch Pinkie introduce herself to a group of men and women. She found it difficult to stifle a laugh as the pink-haired girl broke into a monologue that ended in her showering the rest in party materials.

"Benedictus's recruits get stranger by the day." A deep voice rang out, and she jumped. A man had come out of a side room in front of her, and had seen Pinkie's performance too. He was tall, decked out in gilded silver plate armour that glinted in the light. An eye-patch covered one of his eyes – the other appeared a fairly standard brown. Most impressive however was the massive, shining hammer that he carried one-handed, almost like it was nothing.

The man looked her over properly, and smiled. "I'm sorry. A friend of yours?"

Dash looked back to Pinkie, who now appeared deep in conversation with a man in brightly-coloured robes with an oddly tall hat. "Uh… yeah. How'd you know?"

The man shrugged. "You both stand out."

"Oh… yeah. Well, I'd best be on my way. Wouldn't want to keep you." She turned to go.

"Really?" the man asked, and she stopped. "I thought you might be here for the display. You certainly look like you'd be interested."

"What display? And why d'ya say that?"

"My paladins are putting on a demonstration of how they've progressed in their training; it's open to the public, as we're always looking for new recruits." the man replied. "From the way you carry yourself, you look like you've received some military training."

She hadn't even thought about that._ I guess all that time with the Wonderbolts must have made me stand up straight here…_

"Uh, yeah, I guess so. Kinda." She was still tempted to just leave; she didn't know what a paladin was and wasn't particularly curious. And yet…

_I've got nothing better to do. Maybe this'll pass some time?_

"…all right. I'll stay."

The man smiled, and held out a hand, and she shook it. "Excellent. Lord Grayson Shadowbreaker, at your service."

"Uh… Rainbow Dash. Nice to meet you."

He nodded and showed her into the room he had first come out of. There, two men and a woman knelt down in front of a crudely-made wooden dummy with a straw head, their heads bowed, eyes closed, hands clasped together. Each had a weapon sheathed over their backs; a sword, a hammer, an axe, and yet they did not seem inclined to use them.

Two minutes passed and Rainbow was starting to feel like this was a mistake. _They're just sitting there, not even doing anything. They just– woah! _

Her jaw dropped.

As one, the three trainees rose up and drew their weapons. They opened their eyes, which glowed white-hot like the sun, a glow which spread down their arms, to their hands, and then onto their weapons. Rainbow could feel the warmth radiating from them from across the room. It was a feeling of… belonging. Of being welcomed.

Faster than she would have thought possible, they brought their weapons down and cleaved through the dummies. Slashed, crushed, hacked. The result was the same all round – splinters everywhere.

Grayson went to each trainee in turn, whispering quiet words of praise and encouragement; they each bowed and then left the room.

She didn't know what to think. The light had faded so quickly, but… for the brief time it had shined, she had felt like there was nothing wrong with the world. Just for a moment, she hadn't felt the ache of her missing wings.

_Just for a moment. _

"Well?" Grayson had returned, and was looking at her intently with a wry smile on his face.

"I'm not going to exaggerate. But that. Was. AWESOME!" she cried. "The way they crushed those dummies… that light… so much warmth…!"

"Indeed. You speak as if you're not familiar with the Light; have you never come across it before?"

"Well, I, uh…" _Amnesia, Rainbow. Amnesia!_ Twilight's voice flooded her head for a moment. "I had a bit of an… accident. Don't remember much apart from my name."

"Hmm. In that case, maybe I can help to refresh your memory. Would you like to hear about the Holy Light?"

_Hmm…_

_On the one hand, it sounds like he's going to talk a lot. I've never been that great at learning stuff._

On the other, I've still got lots of time to kill, and…

The memory of the feeling of that strange, comforting light flashed through her again, and her mind was suddenly made up.

"I'm listening." she said.

* * *

Next chapter coming soon!


End file.
